Support a levy on Wiltshire's large supermarkets to help the High Streets and smaller independents

Written by Terry Chivers on 20 October 2013.

Sirs,

At the November meeting of Wiltshire Council, both I and Trowbridge Councillor Jeff Osborn, will be putting a Notice of Motion to the Full Council meeting of Wiltshire Council, calling for a 8.5% levy on all Wiltshire Supermarkets and major retailers.

This levy is already in place in Northern Ireland and many Councils such as Bristol are closely looking at introducing it. Under the sustainable communities act Councils, now have the power to introduce this levy with the revenue going straight to the Council.

If we are successful in getting this motion passed we are suggesting that the revenue raised be invested back into our local High Streets to support the smaller Independent traders across the County of Wiltshire. So many small retailers have complained that vital trade has been lost with increased car parking charges. We could use the revenue to reduce car parking charges and maybe in some cases look at providing a limited amount of free parking.

We all use supermarkets, but it’s time that they put something back into the High Streets, that they are helping to destroy. How many Independent butchers, bakers, green grocers and fish mongers do we see on the High Street very few, they have all been forced out of business to be replaced by takeaways and charity shops.

As a matter of urgency we would ask the residents of Wiltshire, to contact there Wiltshire Councillor, and ask that they support this notice of motion plus to make contact with their local Town and Parish Councillors asking that they support us.

We are also urging local residents and small businesses to support us by signing our online petition - click here